History & Genealogy Expo Adelaide 2010 Evaluation

Posted 22 Aug 2010

The first Unlock the Past History & Genealogy Expo was held in Adelaide on Friday 30 and Saturday 31 July 2010 at the West Adelaide Function Centre (Football Club), Richmond, close to the Adelaide CBD. Click here for the Adelaide Expo website

The two day Expo featured

over 50 exhibitors (see photos below)

38 talks from 25 different presenters

Two special presentations on Who Do you Think You Are? - The making of a compelling Australian TV series – by Diana Pepper of Artemis International (the film maker). Megan Gibson, a researcher for some episodes, was also an exhibitor and presenter in the theatrette in the Exhibition area.

About 450 people attended, with the majority coming on both days. 55 returned a printed evaluation form and subsequently an online evaluation form was completed by 113 visitors, speakers and exhibitors. Following are the results of the online visitor survey. The printed survey, though less detailed, generally agreed with the online results.

Exhibition

Speakers

Venue

Meals

Excellent

37%

42%

28%

14%

Very good

45%

47%

43%

21%

Good

17%

11%

19%

34%

Fair

1%

0%

9%

22%

Poor

0%

0%

1%

9%

Which days were you there?

Friday only 18%

Saturday only 21%

both days 61%

Would you attend a future expo?

definitely 67%

probably 22%

maybe 11%

probably not 0%

no 0%

How often would you like to see an Expo or similar event?

each year 58%

every 2 years 34%

every 3 years 6%

Other 2%

This was the first event of this kind we have organised. We did not get everything right (see below), and exhibitors and speakers vary, but the responses were very positive overall.

We were given a tick as follows

Exhibition - 99% - excellent, very good or good

Speakers - 100% - excellent, very good or good

Venue - 90% - excellent, very good or good

Meals - 69% - excellent, very good or good (would have been better if we had given better information on what was on offer)

No commitment has been made at this stage to another Expo in Adelaide, but we have learnt from our experience this time and the many feedback comments. Our Sydney Expo in October and any other expos will improve in the following key areas:

talks to be a mix of 30 and 45 minutes each. with 15 minute break between (rather than 25 minutes and 5 minutes between)

set a lower exhibition entry price, together with a modest charge for each talk.